The owner should have been prosecuted for having such a dangerous environment.What a beautiful jobGino

That said, the weather may change here in Colorado (Global Warming) and we may have a high fire danger season this summer.  

That left me in a dangerous position, but I was comfortable with the worse case scenario of losing my earnest money deposit if I had to walk away from the deal after getting it under contract.  

The danger is that sometimes people ask questions here and get incorrect answers.

Venmo is dangerous - Google and you will see

Are there signs of foundation cracking that we can fix and mitigate before it's too late and too expensive?

There are so many more factors than that; such a rule of thumb would be dangerously inaccurate.

If so, how to mitigate the risk of damages and the smell of the animal?

You have to get back in the saddle and arm yourself with enough information to be a little dangerous.

You'll want to know the dangers of how most brokers inaccurately complete 7c, how the transition of money works when there is buyer's remorse and the broker hasn't yet delivered the funds, the RP disclosure, the mineral/gas/oil rights disclosure...You may want two contracts--one for buying, one for selling.